GEX VeeDub engine builder ripped me off!

[BUSTI]

Have any off you ever done business with GEX International? They supposedly make hipo VeeDub engines . Well let me tell you my story and maybe you guys can give me some help. Recently I was in the need for an engine for my baja bug...so i went to Hot VeeDubs Magazine and saw GEX International's full page four color add. Looked impressive and I had met a guy at Glamis that said he had recently purchased a motor from the.
They advertised their place of business from Baldwin Park CA and the guy Larry who was their sales rep when I cvlled seemed nice enough. So proceded to order a stroker deal from him a 2110 in fact. I asked for a new magnesium case, as I am old school and didn't want an aluminum case for personal choice reasons, he said not problem after 20 minutes of trying to sell me a brand new aluminum case. I also asked for brand new pistons, new crank, and rods and all new internals. He also agreed to blueprint and balance the motor. I also ordered new heads and ignition and to make a log story longer a whole brand new engine!
So I gave him my credit card number after he gave me a price and emailed me a qoute. That was on September 3rd, 23003. I recieved the motor 4 weeks late how ever it did show up in a crate and all cromed up. the only thing We had to do was install carburators and we we set! Well with only one week to go to halloween and our first Glamis run we finished the car and fired it up in the garage. It fired right up and sounded healthy. This ass hole larry said he had fired it up and test run the deal before he shipped it.
We went ot Glamis and ran the deal running it easy maybe with about 3 hours on it all in the first two days. On Sunday moring I noticed that when I turned it off a brief wiff of white smoke was coming out ever so lightly. I thought Well we didn't run it hard ..did we glaze the rings? Well then the next time My wife started it up and reved it Up to go for a lil run...POW... the bitch blew up with a bang! while it was standing there! Max RPMs was 2500 just to warm it up...maybe. We tried to crank it up again not knowing it was hammered and while looking at the distributor with the cap off I realized that oyu could hold the rotor in one position with your fingers while cranking it over.
We took it home and tore it apart and this is what we found.
1. Washers had never been installed under the distributor and the distributor had ground itself into the case about 10 thousandths into the case with a big ass grove that was oval.
2. The distributor was toast as a result of this.
3. As the distributor had ate its way down the case its gear teeth came apart and fubared the crank all up.
4. We then noticed that one of the pistons gad come apart scoring the cylinder wall beyond repair. On this piston two wrist pin clips were on one side and none on the other side and the piston blew up and the surving clips were ate up and had caused the piston to destroy it self.
5. In side the case were they had either tried to clearance case I thought it was loaded with JB Weld in a 6 inch by 2 inch patch.
6. Further inspection showed the JB Weld was all the way through the case on the outside as if it previously had been blown up! On the inside of the case iot looked like a 13 year old kid had taken a hand held grinder and tried to smooth it out. The case was definitely not new!
7. These guys had so many shims in this deal to make up for massive unequal tolerances that one of the shims was in the way of the piston and at the top of its troke it was hitting the piston. Good bye number two piston and cylinder.
And the list goes on and on. So I call this guy and he tells me to send him back the motor at my expense and he will determine if what i'm saying is true. i say ok but I want the money refunded while i wait in fact I dont want another engine I'll send you the motor back if i can get a refund now!
Basically he says screw you and send it first. I say I am not exercisng a warranty cuz you defrauded me with a used case. Then i tell him I will bring it over and he tells me the good news and he says you can't I am located in Arkansas. I say what your add says Baldwin Park! He says oh havent been there for over a year.
I go there to Baldwin Park and the current tenent of the building says oh GEX has at least 3 customers per week show up here claiming they have been screwed. Also while I am there a process server shows up with paper for GEX and 2 bill collectors and a owner off another business trying to collect on monies these pigs owe them.
Mean time I am out 2300 bucks plus shipping. WHAT DO GUYS RECOMMEND? I could just scream I am so mad. Now he won't take my calls.

[Dr. Eagle]

I am sorry for that screwing you got. I think I would document all of this, and notify your credit card company that there is an issue that you will be trying to work out with the merchant.
Lay a thick paper trail. Document everything you can including if you can get it someone that is an "expert" giving an opinion on how the engine differed in spec from what you bought.
You may even want to ID the new tenant people in Baldwin Park and document their story.
Once you have the technical information, write the guy a letter laying out your case. If you have documented it well enough that he realizes he has no wiggle room, he MAY help you out. If not write a letter to the credit card company with your correspondence with him , a copy of your bill with the charges highlighted and a description of the issue that you have tried to work out IN GOOD FAITH with the merchant.
The credit card company will usually credit the charges pending disposition and investigation of the story.
I have done it before and it worked every time. You may even get the credit card to revoke his Credit Charging privelages as a merchant. If he is as big a crook as it sounds he is...
Good luck man...'
Oh yeah and send any letters fed ex, ups or airborn so you have a paper trail that he got it. Post office is OK with certified return receipt but there is no way to check on the delivery on the internet.

[bohica]

That sucks, hope you get your money back. For the next motor, go Subaru!:eek!:

[Infomaniac]

Don't forget to let the magazine know about false advertising.

[phebus]

Make sure you take plenty of pictures, and document everything and every contact you have with the company, Start to build your case now, and don't try to remember things later. Keep a journal.

[Keithb87]

I'd do all of the above.
Then if i still wasn't satisifyed, I'd load the motor up and drive to Arkansas, find the **** and shove the motor straight up his ASS.
:burningm: :burningm: :burningm:

[superdave013]

To bad you didn't send any money through the mail. That's prefect for mail fraud.

[wsuwrhr]

Damn,
There are so many things wrong with that post. I am sorry about your misfortunes with GEX, they suck, I always thought it was common knowledge.
Unfortunately for 2500 bucks I think you got what you paid for, junk parts from a junk engine builder.
When I built my last motor, about 4 years ago, these are the
"goodguy" prices I paid, although I am sure they are higher now. A new case(although I don't know why you wanted mag) is around 500 bucks. A real stroker crank, not a welded stroker is around 600 bucks, big barrels and pistons are 300, and big heads for the displacement are as much as you want to throw at them, at LEAST 1000 bucks by the time you are done with them. I have around 2000 in mine. There you have it, a few hard parts, not including cam gears, machining of the case, bearings, yada yada yada, and you are looking at at least 2500 bucks.
Nothing is cheap, you will pay sooner or later. I have had my share of 1300,1600,1914,2275,2332. Been there done that. My motor I am running now is a 2332, if I had to build that motor again, it would cost me 6000. I bought the cheap shit when I wanted a stroker motor, and I paid for it. I bent over and spent the big money and never looked back.
My best advise to you is,
contact the credit card vendor, they don't **** around.
decide what kind of money you want to spend for a good motor, stick with it and don't cut corners. None.
I'll talk about VW's till I am blue in the face, built them, raced them, broke them. I have friends with sandrails and the dunes are the place. Not the best or the fastest, noone is, but good bang for the buck, and if it is built right and taken care of, they will last a long time.
Keep your head up.
Brian
When you are ready to do another one, let me know.

[Jordy]

Dude, that sucks, but as was pointed out, you get what you pay for, especially in a VW motor.
I was building a 2276 turbo (basically everything in it was Pauter other than the Super Flow heads that were worked by Dean Lowery) and had more money tied up in it than I did in my BBC in my boat and I didn't cut any corners on the boat motor either.
It costs mucho $$$ to build VW horsepower that will last. That is why the trend is to get away from the VW and go with the Honda, Subaru, LS1, etc. etc. They build the same power if not more and will run for years and be far more reliable. The downside is building a tranny and drivetrain that will hold up to the power.
Good luck.

[REGISTERED USER]

Post a bitch on The Samba.com forums. (http://www.thesamba.com/vw/index.mv)
Lots of VW guys there, and they have a feedback forum just for posting up about jerkhttp://deephousepage.com/smilies/jerkit.gifoffs like these strokes. Put the word out!
http://www.growthspurts.com/drivee/i...9111597511.gif